Pep Boys

I would like to say kudos to the Pep Boys service manager and service team in the Sunnyvale location. I had a unique situation where my car needed a new car battery, but due to custom audio work, an OEM replacement would no longer fit. This was unfortunately found after the team had gone through the time to take out the smaller old aftermarket battery to fit in the stock-​sized replacement. The team tried to find a way, but it just wasn’t possible. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the exact replacement battery for my specific application. Because I wasn’t sure if the problem was the battery or alternator, I asked if they can check my alternator to see if that was OK. They did all the tests and provided me a printout confirming the issue was just the battery. When it was time to pay, they said there was no charge since i would not be buying anything at that time. WOW, that was unexpected. I feel bad that I couldn’t buy anything, but will definitely come back if I need something. Companies that have great customer service like this deserve to be supported. Thank you guys, you’re awesome.

Manager honored PepBoy’s advertised discounts and had a workaround for PB poor computer systems.
Background:
I needed a new car battery, last Bosch was purchased from Pep Boys. Warranty was ³⁶⁄₉₆ months and the battery sill had ~½ months left. Called Pep Boys to ask about warranty. They told me the formula (original price/​96* remaining months) so I should get a $ 48 warranty credit. Noticed the online store was having a 15% off batteries sale.
Glitch:
At the store the clerk said they couldn’t credit warranty for online purchases!
Solution:
Spoke with manager and explained. Manager said it was a computer issue and he could give me the warranty credit thorough a override!

3 stars for actually having somewhat good amount of performance parts in their «speed shop». But horrible customer service especially from Cory I was at the checkout counter for about 5 min before anyone even came to the counter and when Cory finally got there he stood on his phone for another 5 min before even acknowledging me then proceeded to be rude as he checked me out did not say hello or thank you or anything. I understand u have a shitty job and u hate ur life because ur going nowhere but at leased be able to act professional in front of customers

The counter person Saul was very helpful in showing me how to maneuver around the Pepboys «on-​line» website so that I was able to get an additional discount on my purchase. He is very kind, courteous and helpful and I would definitely go to Pep Boys again. They have great pricing, and their staff is helpful too. Also their windshield wiper blades of equal quality are $ 10 less than other stores that I looked at. Great store!

If you need to get an oil change, go any where but here.
I made an appointment for 10:00 on a Saturday. I showed up just before that time. It was only 10 – 15 minutes before someone helped me. At first they had a computer issue that would not allow them to process my information. This wasn’t a big deal, stuff happens. I ended up leaving at approximately 10:45 where they told me it would take approximately 2 – 3 hours to complete my oil change.
I ran some errands and around 3:00 I still had not received any confirmation that my oil change was complete. I went back to Pep boys and no one had even touched my car at this point. They said I was «next on the list.»
Frustrated, I ran another errand and came back around 4pm where I waited for 40 minutes without an employee in sight. There was 1 man at the front counter of the retail section, and not a soul at the service section. There were 3 other customers waiting trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, a man helped me, but explained that 3 of the 5 workers who were on shift were sitting around not working because they didn’t want to work on New Year’s Eve.
After this, I see my car get pulled around, so I think it’s the end. Nope, it wasn’t. Before someone would give me my keys, the man had to spend another 30 minutes tracking down the guy who had my keys and papers to check me out.
After, the man found the guy with my keys, he handed them to a man named John to complete my checkout. John proceeded to take a phone call for 15 minutes while I stood at his counter staring at him.
Then, John finally checks me out and before finishing my order, he walks over to another counter and begins chatting with another employee (completely irrelevant to my order in any way). The young man who helped me originally (the only helpful person in this transaction) came back to ask me why in the world I was still here, because he knew how frustrated I was. He went to the counter and takes the papers and keys from John and completes the transaction for me.
All in all, an oil change should NEVER take over 6 hours. Save your previous time and go anywhere else.

Had an appointment of battery installation at 10am, arrived at 9:45am. The guy was very nice and told me to wait for 30 – 45 minutes, just one appointment before me. Not a busy day.
Ok, after more than one and half hours, my car was still out in the parking lot. Then asked the guy to check, he even had difficulty finding work order for my car, WTF!
Finally, it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes for simple installation!
Very, very inefficient work here, extremely disappointed, really wasted my time : – (
DO NOT COME TO THIS PLACE!!!

I went in for a regular tire balance. The car was really okay it is what I do once a year as part of the warranty on the tires. It got the car back with a bad pull. Pep boys denied any responsibility. I took it to another shop and paid to have them look at it. The tires have a radial pull that developed all of a sudden from one moment to the next seemingly. This other shop rotated tires around and it pulled the other way. They moved tires front to back and still the same thing. This even after this other shop that was helping me first performed an alignment. Remember I had no problems before any of this.
I am not sure what Pep boys did to the tires. I have a hunch they may be trying to get customers to buy new ones if the ones they have are getting old and are still in good condition (so they can make more money). In the end I filed a complaint with the B.A.R. and it is just a he said she said at this point.

Slowness beyond belief. Absolutely zero pep. I stopped by the garage to ask if it looked like they could fit in a headlight installation. It was Thursday at 3pm. They said probably, but arrange it inside the store. 3 guys on registers and phones, about 6 customers total in the store. Chit chat with workers emerging from the garage.
After 25 minutes I got the chance to ask whether they could install the headlight. He sighed and said it would be a while. I asked if he could be more specific. He shrugged and said he was by himself managing the garage service desk.
Obviously they view customers as an imposition. I will never go back there. A dozen similar stores are within minutes of my house.

I have been to this Pep Boys at least four times. The first time was a pleasant experience; I purchased tires and had them installed here. It took a few hours, but that was understandable. I waited in the lounge area and got work done. The second time was equally pleasant. I needed to purchase a new car battery; I bought it and had it installed. Again, a few hours’ wait time, totally understandable. The last two times, however, I started to see confirmation of what other reviewers have mentioned regarding the customer service, especially for the maintenance and repair portion of the store.
Bad Experience #1 — My check engine light came on when I was driving home from work. I brought it into this Pep Boys around 6 PM on a Thursday evening. The representative that I spoke to said that it would be about an hour to look at it. I said that was fine, walked over to Panera, had dinner, came back, and worked in the lounge. At 8:55 PM, right before closing, I got a call that my car was ready. I walked over to the counter, a little annoyed that it had taken 3 hours. The representative said that the technician couldn’t find anything, and that they had finished up on my car two hours earlier. He seemed surprised that nobody had called me. I was very annoyed that I had wasted two hours waiting for a call. But I understand that there are miscommunications and it wasn’t the end of the world to have to wait 2 extra hours on a Thursday night.
Bad Experience #2 — My car keeps stalling and the check engine light comes on. On Saturday morning, I walked in to see if they could take a look at it. I was prepared to wait for awhile, after my previous experience, so I brought my laptop and a book. But the representative that I spoke to said that they wouldn’t be able to see me until Tuesday. He set up an appointment for Tuesday morning at 8:30 AM and promised that his «master mechanic» would look at it first thing in the morning. We agreed that I would drop off my car on Monday evening so that he could get started right away when he got in on Tuesday. So here I am, Monday evening, and I go to drop off my keys and my car. The person I speak to (different guy) seems doubtful that anybody will even be able to look at my car tomorrow. He says that there are already 6 cars waiting for tomorrow. I showed him my appointment confirmation and he seemed unsure about what to do with it. I asked, «What’s the point of making an appointment for first thing in the morning if they’re not going to be able to look at it until a few days later?» He wasn’t as apologetic as I would have liked, but I understand it’s probably beyond his control.
I should have just left and taken my keys with me then and there, but since these guys are the ones who installed the battery a few months ago, it’s their responsibility if these problems are occurring because of the battery. Given my previous experience, I’m not even hopeful that I’ll receive a phone call tomorrow. If I don’t, or if they haven’t been able to look at my car all day, I’ll be taking my keys and my business elsewhere.

I just literally walked out of the store today after purchasing a $ 5 oil filter. I had the oil filter & receipt in hand as I walked out after paying for it & as I went to exit thru the door, one of the employee’s yelled out to me asking me if I paid for the item!!! 1^st off who does that? As an employee are you even aloud to do that??? I felt totally disrespected & profiled as a thief!!! So I went back in the store & walked up to the cashier named Saul to show him my receipt. I was so upset, he wouldn’t even really look at the receipt or apologize for calling me out in front of all those other employees & customers! I called the store to speak with the store manager & they put the same guy who accused me! After making a big fuss about what happen tome, Saul sat there & still didn’t apologize & then had the nerve to accuse me of assaulting him!!! At that point I told him that I would come back in there so he could call the police for assaulting him mean while I would call his corporate office to file a complaint against him! I ended up taking off after the whole ordeal instead of going back inside & loosing my cool! I will be reaching out to there corporate office about this & taking action! People like Saul don’t have any business working retail let alone a manager! I been going into that store since it 1^st opened, I shopped in there during the remodel they had a couple years back! Now that they made look like a thief over a $ 5 oil filter I definitely won’t be back!
P.S
Just want to make it clear that i paid for the filter & never assaulted him!!!

Popped in. Grabbed a quart of synthetic oil. Everyone was fine, though not wholly attentive (they were talking amongst themselves even when interacting with customers)… but it wasn’t a terrible thing.
I left, mission accomplished. Didn’t feel any special pull to return, but wouldn’t avoid it either. Very three starr-​y.

Matt, Victor, Saul, Paul – (I’ll try to add more names as I remember…)
Thanks very much for helping me find hard-​to-​find parts. I really appreciate the extra help and time.
Everyone is friendly there. I also like their lounge area. I can use my computers and devices.
Saul, thanks for getting me the best deals possible and letting me see the research on my items.

Just tired of the games at this place. Always come up with like a hundred things they need to charge you extra for. Just dont bother with the service department. Will not be coming back in the future for anything but parts. They are the definition of «bad profits», I am sure they make a few bucks off the upsells but dont understand thats short sighted and that they lose the long term business.

Felt obligated to write this review since I am generally extremely distrusting of pretty much all auto shops (see my Santa Clara Firestone review for past fuckery I had to deal with).
My car’s check engine light came on accompanied with several problems (screeching noise during start, loss of power uphill, etc). Came here for a diagnostic and almost everything they found wrong with my car matched the extreme amount of googling I did of the problems.
Told them to fix everything they found and so far so good! Just picked up and no screeching noise. Will re-​edit his review when I get to test the car up a steep incline.
All in all took 3 days (dropped car off late tuesday afternoon, diagnostic was done wednesday afternoon, and all repairs started and finished thursday) and cost ~$ 550 including the $ 90 diagnostic fee, cost if parts, and labor.
Matt was the representative who helped me the whole time. Super cool guy. Especially compared to the fuckbois/​fuckhoes I had to deal with at Firestone in the past.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend this place and will continue to bring my car here in the future.

I am giving up on this Pep Boys. Every time I come here I am disappointed in the lack of timely service. I have made appointments in the morning for simple repairs or inspections and each time I am left waiting hours with no progress. Today I dropped off my car at 9am — I called at 12pm for a progress report and they still hadn’t gotten to my car. The person I spoke to told me they still had 10 cars from the previous day ahead of mine.
I understand that repairs take time but this is just ridiculous. What is the point of making an appointment? Even the store is understaffed; you can never find someone to help you check out. More staff is definitely needed to help improve.

Wait times even with appointment are ridiculous. 3 hours to change the headlight? (Lolwut)
Staff was really helpful. Stepped out of the store to replace headlights in the parking lot. :)

This is the second time I am surprised by all the bad reviews for this location. I have only worked with the parts department, but both times have had super friendly and helpful customer service that was timely. John today is awesome and helping me make sure that I buy the right shocks. Yes, they get busy, but I have never been to an auto shop that doesn’t. I would recommend this location for parts and customer service.

Tuesday night, 6:30 pm. My husband gets a flat on the one car we share. We need the tire replaced so we can get to work the next day. And yet, every tire place is already closed or closing too soon for us to make it. Luckily, we made enough phone calls and kept moving down the list to find this Pep Boys.
Pep Boys was open til 9! And said if we got there by 8, they could put on a whole new set of tires (which we needed anyways). This alone was enough to make me a fan of Pep Boys, but the good experience didn’t stop there.
Everyone employee we spoke with was incredibly friendly and helpful. We walked in pretty stressed from the headache of the flat tire, and we quickly were laughing and joking around with the staff. Well done, Pep Boys!
The cherry on top– there is a Five Guys in the same plaza. Perfect place to get some dinner while waiting for your car to get fixed.

Horrible service. All I wanted was to buy a battery and have them put it in.
Bad experience with the sluggish, apathetic people who «work» at the Sunnyvale location.
I was told that I would have to wait for one hour. Then 90 minutes later, they had made no effort to do anything whatsoever and I was told that they are «still busy». So I finally gave up and asked for my key back, went elsewhere and got a new battery that was quickly installed by a regular person. At Pep Boys it was so amazing how extremely lazy and slow moving the employees were. Morale at that place must be below zero. All together, Pep Boys wasted two hours of my time and did nothing! I will avoid this horrible place and suggest to others to do the same.

Received an e-​mail for 30% off an online order but received an error message… tried again 3 more times… all resulting in an error message… Surprisingly, the order went through, the 5^th time the next morning.
Swung by this Pep Boys a couple hours later and they asked if I received confirmation that my order was ready for pick up… as they received 5 different orders. The employee quickly wandered off to the back to grab my bottles of Techron fuel injector cleaner…
…so what’s the point of an online order for store pick up if 1) the website is non-​operational and 2) the order isn’t ready for pickup after a couple hours?!?
…at least the employee was wearing his uniform?!?